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When Mr. Harrington had announced that the robotics class was taking a trip to listen to the speakers at the nearby convention, Peter hadn’t realized it was the same one that Tony was scheduled to present at until the bus rolled up and his mentor-but-sort-of-also-father-figure’s face was plastered on the giant sign by the entrance.
At this point, he was convinced that he must have seriously pissed someone off in a past life or something because there was no way the universe hated him that much.
Surprisingly, the convention went on without a hitch. No crazy villains or assassins came to ruin everyone’s fun, and the world wasn’t ending around them. Even the Spidey Sense was quiet, and Peter actually found himself enjoying all of the speakers and their presentations.
Tony came on last. It made sense. He was the biggest presence there, and everyone knew that as soon as he took the stage, no one after him would be able to compete.
Peter cheered just as loud, if not louder, as everyone else in the building when the billionaire strode into the spotlight like he owned it.
The young hero considered for a moment that the man might actually own the building. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing Tony owned.
Tony silenced the cheers with raised hands, flashing his signature PR grin. He was dressed in a smart three-piece suit with glasses perched on his nose.
The teen couldn’t help but snort. Of course, Tony would be pretentious enough to wear sunglasses indoors.
It was almost hard to believe that this was the same man that just earlier in the week chased DUM-E around the lab with a screwdriver after the curious bot accidentally dropped a box of paperclips down into the wiring of the newest model of the Iron Man suit.
Peter always loved watching the genius work crowds. He had the undivided attention of every single person in the room. It was like that everywhere he went, but it seemed different when it was a room full of hundreds of people. He made it seem like he was personally speaking to every single person individually rather than to the audience as a whole.
That level of charisma boggled Peter’s mind.
Tony paced across the stage as images and videos of his newest project displayed behind him, following along with his speech perfectly.
The presentation was maybe fifteen minutes long, but it only felt like it had been a few minutes. Even as people clapped and cheered his exit, he knew that most of them wouldn’t have minded if it went on just a little bit longer.
“That was so cool!” Ned shouted over the crowd, elbowing Peter lightly to get his attention.
Peter, giddy with residual excitement couldn’t help but agree.
It never matted how many times he watched the hero work in his element, it still amazed him. Some selfish part of him felt the tiniest bit smug that he had such a close relationship with the genius, not that he would ever admit that part out loud.
Once Mr. Harrington had gathered all of his students and made sure everyone was in one piece, an impressive feat considering the crowd they just went through, he did one final headcount just outside the bus.
“Well, it looks like everyone is here. Did you guys have fun?” he asked with a grin.
There were simultaneous enthusiastic cheers of agreement.
“That’s good to hear! I’m glad you all enjoyed yourselves, and I hope you all learned-“
“Oh, good! You’re all still here. I was afraid I missed you,” a voice cut in.
Peter’s head snapped up from where he was idly toeing a rock on the ground. He could recognize that voice anywhere.
Tony, having shed his coat somewhere else, was briskly walking over to the students with a grin on his face.
It took only moments for the high schoolers to realize who exactly it was that was coming toward them before they were breaking out into screams of excitement.
Tony only faltered for a moment at the noise, scanning the faces in the group.
Peter felt his stomach drop to his feet. He knew something was bound to happen. Things were going too smoothly and leave it to his mentor to embarrass him before they could make a getaway.
He wondered if it was too much to ask for the ground to just open up and swallow him whole.
“Mr. St- Stark! What can we do for you, sir?” Mr. Harrington asked, stumbling over his words in shock.
“I’m looking for- ah! There he is. Come here, bambino,” Tony said, locking eyes with Peter and beckoning the teen toward him.
Peter felt the heat rise in his face, and he stared at his mentor with wide eyes.
“I don’t have all day, kid.”
“Mr. Stark, I really don’t think that it’s a good time,” he said hesitantly.
There were several choked gasps around him, including one from Mr. Harrington.
To be fair, people didn’t generally say no to Tony Stark.
“Oh, it’s definitely a good time,” the man countered, choosing to instead walk toward Peter.
The students around him parted to make room.
Tony ruffled his hair and slung an arm around his shoulders, earning an indignant squawk from Peter.
“Why didn’t you tell me that your class was coming to the convention? I would have gotten you all much better seats.”
Peter never wanted to die more than he did in this moment.
“I didn’t tell you because I don’t exactly keep up with your schedule, and to be honest, I wouldn’t tell you anyway for this exact reason, Mr. Stark,” he ground out, ducking under Tony’s arm.
The man threw a hand over his chest in mock offence.
“First of all, isn’t it your job as my personal intern to know my schedule? Second, I’m wounded, Petey. You’re keeping secrets from your idol? Your favorite superhero? Your-“
“I quit. You’re dead to me. Thor is my favorite superhero now,” Peter interrupted, unable to help the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips, falling into their easy routine of banter.
“Did he seriously just cut off Tony Stark?” Cindy whispered in horror.
“Forget that! Mr. Stark just said that he was his personal intern, and he quit!” Another student with a name that Peter couldn’t recall countered.
“Peter! That was incredibly rude, and unprofessional! Mr. Stark, I am so sorry,” Mr. Harrington said, stepping forward with wide eyes.
Tony just haphazardly waved his hand at the man, earning a snort from Peter. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that he was reaching the point of no return, but Tony made it so easy to forget the world around them.
“You can’t quit if I fire you first,” he said with a raised brow, folding his arms across his chest.
“Holy shit,” Abe breathed.
“Technically I think Ms. Potts has to be the one to fire me,” Peter shrugged.
“Hey, it’s my company too!”
“Right. Pretty sure it's only twelve percent your company.”
Tony barked in surprised laughter.
“That’s it. I’m calling my lawyers and removing you from my will. You’re no longer the heir to my company. You’re so not allowed to talk to Pepper anymore.”
“You’re just mad because she likes me more.”
“Everyone likes you more than me, cucciolo. You’ve even somehow managed to turn my AI against me, the one that I created.”
Peter just stuck his tongue out at him.
“I came over here for a reason, brat. Since-“
“Can someone tell me what’s going on here?” Flash asked with a look of distress.
Peter winced. Right. Everyone heard that.
“I’m sorry. Did someone seriously just interrupt me?” Tony questioned, staring Flash down with an unamused expression.
The teen in questioned shrunk back under the intense gaze.
“I- well, I’m really sorry, Mr. Stark, sir, but Parker interrupted you too, and I’m just really confused, sir,” he stammered.
Peter rolled his eyes, unsurprised that Flash’s first instinct was to throw him under the bus.
“Just so we can set the record straight right off the bat, whatever Peter does or doesn’t do is absolutely zero concern to you. Got it? Good. Now, what exactly is there to be confused about?”
For a minute, Peter wasn’t sure Flash was going to speak up again. Leave it to the darker-haired teen to be an idiot and do so anyway.
“I just didn’t realize that Parker actually had an internship or that you two were so close,” he said hesitantly.
Tony looked between Peter and the awestruck group of teenagers.
“I did tell you all I had an internship,” Peter mumbled quietly, suddenly very uncomfortable with all of the attention he was getting.
“You didn’t exactly elaborate. We all just thought that you were making it up or that you were a coffee runner or something,” Abe said, his eyes wider than Peter had ever seen them.
“It’s not like you would have believed him if he told you anyway!” Ned huffed.
“Is that true, Pete?” Tony asked seriously, the teasing tone gone entirely.
Peter glanced his way and shrugged, choosing to look down at the ground instead. He knew that the second he made any sort of extended eye contact, he would cave under Tony’s gaze. He always did.
“In all fairness, I wouldn’t have believed me either.”
Tony sighed and dropped an arm over his shoulder again.
“Alright. I’ll give you that one, but you know you could have proved them all wrong at any point in time, right? Between all the tech we’ve made together and the pictures on your phone, I think that would be proof enough.”
“I know that, but I kind of enjoyed the anonymity of it sometimes, and I didn’t want people to treat me differently.”
“Let me tell you something about this kid here. Peter is the most amazing person I have ever met and considering most of my time is spent with multi-million-dollar business owners and literal superheroes, that’s saying something. He’s the only person I’ve found that can not only keep up with me in the lab but outsmart me as well. He’s found solutions to problems that I didn’t even know existed, and he does them as easy as breathing air. Not to mention that he does all this and doesn’t brag about it to everyone he meets on the street. Like, who else do you know that would be my personal intern and not scream it from the rooftops every morning? I sure can’t think of anyone,” Tony paused his rant to take in the slack-jawed faces staring at him. “To be honest, I don’t even think personal intern is a fitting title. It’s almost demeaning. He’s my mentee, my protégé, and as close to a son as someone can be without blood.”
Peter felt like the ground had been ripped out from under him as he watched Tony, unblinking. He was sure for a moment that he forgot how to breathe.
His son? Tony thought of him as his son?
Sure, they had joked about it a few times, and everyone liked to compare them to a father-son duo, but they had never outwardly said it to other people with that much seriousness.
Tony tugged Peter closer and tucked him into his side.
“And if I find out that any of you are giving him any sort of shit or are treating him as a means to get in my good graces, I’ll make sure that you never see the inside of an Ivy League College for as long as there is breath in my lungs. Just remember that I’m not the only one that cares about this kid a great deal. I have a lot of very powerful friends that would do anything for him. Is that clear?”
Everyone surrounding them, nodded, completely dumbstruck.
“Mr. Stark, that really wasn’t necessary,” Peter said, finally remembering how his voice worked.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It absolutely was. Besides, if it becomes too much of a hassle to be in public school, I’ll just pull you out and put you with all of those private tutors like I’ve been begging you and your aunt to.”
”Mr. Stark!”
Tony just smiled at him, his eyes alight with mischief and affection.
Peter sighed, unable to find a way to be mad at the man, even through his crippling embarrassment.
“You, Mr. Teacher Man, I’ll be taking Peter from here. I’m listed as his emergency contact or whatever so there shouldn’t be any issues, right?” Tony asked, practically challenging Mr. Harrington to say something.
The man, entirely out of his element, vehemently shook his head.
“Of course, Mr. Stark, sir! Go right ahead. I’m sure he’s in excellent hands.”
“I like this one. Someone tell Pepper he said that.”
Peter snorted and let himself be led away by his mentor.
Maybe for once everything did go right on a field trip.